Major demolition drive in Bandra: BMC cracks down on illegal restaurant extensions

May 26, 2016, 21:06 IST
|
mid-day correspondent

The Mumbai civic body, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has cracked down on illegal encroachments in Bandra, with restaurants like Masala Zone being demolished

The Mumbai civic body, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has cracked down on illegal encroachments in Bandra, with restaurants like Masala Zone being demolished.

The demolition drive that was undertaken on Wednesday and Thursday at Bandra Reclamation and near the Bandra Railway Station saw about 15 structures being brought down.

The Masala Zone restaurant after being demolished by the BMC.

The BMC's H West ward office, on Wednesday, took action against eight illegal structures located at Bandra Reclamation. The structures had encroached upon open space in order to create a sitting area. While, one of them was Masala Zone, a few other small names were also involved.

mid-day, as part of its ongoing campaign on BMC elections, had recently reported how Reclamation residents had been suffering because of these structures for many years. The eateries and bars in the area would run late into the night and cause nuisance to those living in the MHADA Colony next door. However, the BMC did not crack down on those bars even on Wednesday's action. According to sources that is because the BMC was foccused on taking action only against structures that were completely illegal.

"They only took action against those structures that were of concrete. But there are at least 15 others that have put up temporary sheets outside the place and are running business for years. What about those? Those are the real culprits. I'm not at all satisfied with the action," said S R Naik, a resident.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the BMC also came down heavily on structures leading from S V Road to Bandra Station. About eight unauthorised structures that were blocking this arterial road were removed. These included Hotel Yadgar, Danish Kabab corner, Seekh Kabab Corner, etc. Some of these were ground+1 structures were functioning as AC restaurants also.

"There was a major bottleneck in this area. So much so that pedestrians would walk on the road, inconveniencing motorists. Even the traffic police and Railways had conveyed the problem to us. This is just the first phase of the action. Further widening is proposed with the help of the Railways," informed Sharad Ughade, assistant municipal commissioner, H West.